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QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITERS

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Journalistic Writing ­ MCM310
VU
LECTURE 3
QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITERS
1. Be considerate for your readers.
For example, compare the following two pieces and see which reflects writers' sense of consideration.
·
We do not have enough fuel to reach Portland. When we land at Sioux City we hope to take
on more fuel, which will take about an hour."
·
We are encountering 90-mile-an hour headwinds. This wind and our full load mean that we
are using more fuel than usual. Consequently, we are diverting to Sioux City, North Dakota, to
top up the fuel tanks as a safety precaution. Refueling in Sioux City will take about one hour. I
apologize for the unavoidable delay. Thank you."
1. Investigation:
A good writer is highly investigative in his approach. He seeks to find out at minimum the answers to the
following questions: Who, What, Where, When, Why, How
2. Dream and reality:
A good writer knows the communication reality. He strongly believes that a message sent is not a message
received. A message's success depends upon the fulfillment of the following points:
Social Contact
The persons who are communicating have to be in touch with each
other
Common Medium
Both parties must share a common language or means of
communication.
Transmission
The message has to be imparted clearly.
Understanding
The message has to be received, properly understood and interpreted
Probably the specialist was a dream writer; that's why, his message failed.
Plumber (wrote): Sir, Hydrochloric acid is good for cleaning out clogged drains.
Specialist (responded): The efficiency of HCL is indisputable, but the corrosive residue is incompatible
with metallic permanence.
Plumber (rewrote): Thank you for appreciation.
Specialist (re-stressed): We cannot assume responsibility for the production of toxic and noxious residue
with hydrochloric acid, and suggest you use an alternative procedure.
Plumber: Again Thanked.
Specialist (in desperation): Don't use hydrochloric acid. It eats hell out of the pipes.
3. Know internal biases and shape perceptions:
They try to find the resistance of their readers. For this they collect all information about their readers and
then prepare a game plan.
4. Persuasive:
Good writers are strong communicators. They have the art of strong oral and written communication
skills. They use the rhetorical devices to exhibit standard behavior to influence their readers. They know
that all readers want strong ethics and morality on the part of the writer, cooperation, goodwill, efficiency,
trust etc. and, they exhibit the same virtues.
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Journalistic Writing ­ MCM310
VU
5. Knowledge of medium:
Good writers use their medium: language in the most effective manner and according to the reception level
of their readers.
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Table of Contents:
  1. INTRODUCTION TO JOURNALISTIC WRITING:Practical, THINGS TO KNOW
  2. QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITERS
  3. QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITERS
  4. QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITING:Achieve appropriate readability:
  5. QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITING:Be concise, Be creative, Be correct
  6. THE PROCESS OF WRITING:INVENTION, WHEN YOU START TO WRITE
  7. THE PROCESS OF WRITING II:ORGANIZING, DRAFTING, REVISING
  8. ALL ABOUT WORDS:HOW WORDS ARE FORMED?:SUFFIXES
  9. DICTIONARY-A WRITER’S LANGUAGE TOOL:KINDS OF INFORMATION
  10. PARTS OF SPEECH:Noun Gender, Noun Plurals, Countable Nouns
  11. BASIC CLAUSE PATTERNS
  12. ACTIVE AND PASSSIVE VOICE
  13. MODIFIERS AND SENTENCE TYPES:COMPOUND SENTENCES
  14. REPORTED SPEECH:Indirect Questions, Direct commands
  15. GRAMMATICAL SENTENCE – ISSUES:SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
  16. GRAMMATICAL SENTENCE – ISSUES II:SENTENCE FRAGMENTS
  17. EFFECTIVE SENTENCE:PARALLELISM, NEEDED WORDS, SHIFTS
  18. STYLE: GUIDELINE AND PITFALLS I:COLLOQUIAL VS FORMAL, CIRCUMLOCUTION
  19. STYLE: GUIDELINE AND PITFALLS II:AMBIGUITY, REDUNDANCY, EUPHEMISM:
  20. PARAGRAPH WRITING: TYPES AND TECHNIQUES:STRUCTURE
  21. PARAGRAPH WRITING: TYPES AND TECHNIQUES:Putting on Our Play
  22. ESSAY WRITING:VARIOUS STRATEGIES FOR ESSAYS, PROMPTS
  23. SIGNAL WORDS:Non word Emphasis Signals
  24. EXPOSITORY WRITING:LOGICAL FALLACIES, APPEAL TO EMOTION
  25. THE WRITING STYLES: REPORT and NARRATIVE WRITING, SHORT REPORTS
  26. THE WRITING STYLES: DESCRIPTIVE AND PERSUASIVE WRITINGS, Observation
  27. RESEARCH WRITING AND DOCUMNETING SOURCES:Handling Long Quotations
  28. Summary and Précis Writing:CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD SUMMARY
  29. Punctuation:THE PERIOD, THE COMMA, THE SEMICOLON, THE COLON
  30. MECHANICS:ABBREVIATIONS, NUMBERS, SPELLING, THE HYPHEN
  31. READING SKILLS FOR WRITERS:EDUCATED READING, STEPS
  32. PARTS OF A NEWSPAPER:Box-out, By-line, Caption, Exclusive, Feature
  33. THE LANGUAGE OF THE NEWSPAPERS II:BROADSHEET NEWSPAPER
  34. News Writing and Style I:WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A NEWSPAPER
  35. NEWS WRITING II:Accuracy, Clarity, Style, Qualities of Effective Leads
  36. EDITORIAL WRITING:WRITING AN EDITORIAL:STRUCTURING AN EDITORIAL
  37. WRITING FEATURES:GENERATING FEATURE STORY IDEAS
  38. WRITING COLUMNS:Column and a news report, Purpose, Audience
  39. WRITING ARTICLES FOR NEWSPAPERS:The Heading, The Lead
  40. WRITING ANALYSIS:purpose, scope, method, results, recommendations
  41. LETTERS TO EDITORS:Four important aspects about letters, Organizing letters
  42. BROADCAST AND WEB NEWS WRITING:WRITE CONCISELY, BROADCAST STYLE
  43. WRITING PRESS RELEASE, REVIEWS AND OBITUARIES:Summary of Content:
  44. THE ART OF INTERVIEWINGS
  45. FINAL THOUGHTS:Practical, Job-Related, Social, Stimulating, Therapeutic